June 24, 2025 marks three years since the Supreme Court decision was issued in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case that reversed the decision in Roe v. Wade, upending the legal framework protecting abortion access in the United States. Dr. Jamila Perritt, ob/gyn and abortion provider in DC and President & CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health responds:
“For the last three years, we have witnessed first-hand what happens when politicians try to control the rights of people to practice basic bodily autonomy — with dire results. We have seen countless people forced to leave their communities to get basic health care, forced to remain pregnant when they wouldn’t have otherwise, criminalized for experiencing pregnancy loss, and ultimately, we have seen people dying after being turned away when seeking emergency abortion care.
“The truth is, these tragic circumstances were preventable; anti-abortion policymakers and judges, hellbent on controlling who has the right to start a family, the right to health care, and quite frankly, who has the right to stay alive in our health care system, have manufactured these conditions.
“Health care providers have been impacted drastically as the care they have been trained to provide has been criminalized many states. While some providers chose or were forced to move to continue providing full-spectrum care, many stayed in their communities, continuing to provide compassionate care for patients.
Health care should never be determined by who holds power in governmental positions.
“Health care should never be determined by who holds power in governmental positions. Instead, access to care should be decided by the person who needs it. Make no mistake, these attacks on care have not and will not end with eliminating abortion. The same playbook used to ban or significantly restrict access to abortion care is being used today to control access to lifesaving gender-affirming care. In a system where one subset of individuals, who hold an inappropriate and disproportionate amount of power, has the power to determine who has the right to bodily autonomy and self-determination, every right we hold dear is up for grabs.
“But, despite this, as doctors and as activists, we continue to fight. We remain focused on building a world where people can get the health care they need, no matter what that care is, no matter who they are, safely in their communities. We dream and envision a place where people are not shamed or criminalized for if, when, and how they start a family. At Physicians for Reproductive Health, we know this is possible. The seemingly overwhelming challenges that threaten our lives, our safety, and our sense of livelihood at the local, state, national, and international scale abound. We must continue to forge ahead, together, building systems and supports for a future where we all get to be free.”